Tens of thousands throng to “Mecca of art”

Around 60,000 visitors and 2,300 journalists made the pilgrimage this year to Art Basel – billed as the world’s leading fair for contemporary art.The show, which ended on Sunday, was also a commercial success. Many gallery owners said sales were the best ever, and hotels in the city were fully booked.

Three hundred galleries displayed the work of around 2,000 artists over the five days which, according to the organisers, transformed Basel into “a world Mecca of art”.

The organisers declared triumphantly on their website that “Art 38 Basel impressively confirmed the robust health of the international art market”. The fair was attended by artists, collectors, curators and art lovers from near and far.

“It was a record year and a festival for the international art world. Rarely have there been so many important and interesting art works in one place at the same time,” said Samuel Keller, director of Art Basel. more…

The worst cultural offenders of the last 60 years

Guardian

These are the artists, movies, bands and TV shows that I reckon have impacted on our culture in the most malign way.

It was Oscar Wilde who declared that, “there is no such thing as a good influence.” He was wrong, of course – as any fool knows, there is good influence and there is bad influence. To exert a bad influence, something does not necessarily have to be bad in itself, but it often helps.

Here follows my own nominations for the artists, movies, bands and TV shows of the past 60 years that have impacted on the wider culture in the most malign way. Your own suggestions would be more than welcome.

1950s – The Goon Show

The only rational explanation for the vast popularity of this BBC radio show is that life in post-war Britain was so unremittingly grim that people would laugh at just about anything. If Milligan, Secombe and co achieved anything at all, it was proving conclusively that wackiness is the lowest form of wit. Their wretched influence can be tracked through the literary endeavours of John Lennon, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, the unfunny bits of Monty Python, “bonkers” TV personalities like Noel Edmonds and the kind of people satirized by The Fast Show’s Colin Hunt. Prince Charles is honorary patron of The Goons Preservation Society – say no more.